Boat Kids

14 Comments

One of the things parents of kids living “normal” lives often question about boat life is, “What about socializing? Are there other kids?”

Truthfully, there aren’t always a bunch of kids around. Ali and I very often express just how fortunate we are to have two kids so close in age that love each other and enjoy one another’s company. But there are also plenty of times when there are other kids. Right now we’re surrounded by a group of good kids that ours are having a great time with. And as parents it’s great because boat kids, and their parents, generally share a lot of the same values we do. We can let the kids run off and not worry about what they are doing, what sort of trouble they are getting into, what sort of things the older kids are saying, if everyone is being nice, etc..

And boat kids actually play. They are outside together coming up with fun things to do. They aren’t parked in front of a screen all day long. For all the parents out there of a certain age, boat kid life solves the “back in my day” problem.

You know what the “back in my day” problem is. Back in my day kids climbed trees. Back in my day mom said go outside and don’t come back until dark. Back in my day, we didn’t have video games. Back in my day you were lucky if you had a stick and a piece of string to play with. You’ve either heard them all, or said them all, but either way, everyone knows kids today lead an entirely different life than their parents did. Unless you are a boat kid. In which case most of us sit back, watch our kids, and say, “I remember when I was a kid I did that same thing.”

It’s a hard subject to talk about without sounding as if I am way up on my high horse. I’m not. As parents we all learn that we really don’t know how our kids are going to turn out, until they turn out. Saying that my way of raising kids is right, and someone else is raising theirs wrong would do nothing but set me up for a knockdown. All I care about is that I’m raising my kids the way I want them raised, and that I’m the one doing the raising. Beyond that, who am I to judge? For now I can just sit back blissfully watching two friendly, fun, smart, healthy, worldly, well-behaved kids run around having a good time with their friends.

Another benefit to boat kid life is that they learn to get along and have fun with kids of all ages, instead of being segregated to spending all day with kids of the same age. Eight, nine, ten, twelve, and fourteen are currently being represented on the Tijax docks.

Our oven/stove is AC powered and sucks too much juice for the 3000W inverter. Running a generator just to cook dinner or make some popcorn is pretty ridiculous, so we’ve gone with this solution for now. It’s cheap, they are available everywhere, and it’s rated 1500W. Ali tried out a one-burner convection cooktop like this last year, but found it cooked everything way too fast for her no matter how low she set the temp. So, here we are—it’s not glamorous, but it works.

Morning in the Rio.

Halloween. A holiday they don’t celebrate down here, but was happily celebrated by a couple dozen boat kids and some local friends. Because it isn’t celebrated, it’s very much a “wear what you’ve got” event. Ali tried to hook Ouest up with some home-brewed hair dye concoction she found on the internet (conditioner and food coloring), but all it ended up doing in the end was giving her luxuriantly smooth hair.

La sirena y el luchador.

November first morning looks very much the same no matter where we are. The only difference here is the complete lack of Snickers, Milky Ways, Hersheys, and M&Ms.

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14 Comments on “Boat Kids”

  2. Reply

    yeah, you hit on it … kruisin kids are special! self perception, esteem and worth (all the other self’s) become evident. bumped into a kruisn kid at work…he described his childhood. i asked, ” what the heck are you doing out here?”(offshore oil and gas) trying to earn enough money to buy a boat and go back and do it all over again! Go get’m tiger(s)! Blessings, scott

  6. Reply

    As far as child rearing, I commend you as parents. Far too many parents today do not spend enough time with their children. There are those that do as much as possible, but there are also many that do not. I grew up with both of my parents working, but they still spent every available minute with my sister and I.
    There are way too many parents today that I have heard make the statement ‘Boy I sure need a few days away from the kids.’ or ‘Let’s drop the kids off at grandma’s for the weekend so we can go out and have some fun.’ I always thought the reason for having a family, was to love and enjoy their company, not being happy to have away time from them.
    And I do agree, that way too many parents use electronics as baby sitters. Nothing wrong in television, computers, or I-phones. But keep it to a limit. I commend you and other parents that limit the use of electronics, there are so many other things kids can do with a little imagination. Get out and explore, read a book, check out nature, it is wonderful and even if you live in the city, parks are only a few blocks away to watch wildlife etc.
    Finally thanks for letting us follow your journey.
    Larry

    1. Reply

      Thanks, Larry. Appreciate your comments. It is a life we hadn’t planned out, with many changes along the way, but it is turning out to be more rewarding than we could have imagined (or planned).

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